rough draft brewing company

Rough Draft is a brewing company that is very close to my office. I’d only been once before since I’m not much of a beer drinker but they recently started offering food. This meant I had to visit a couple of times to get a feel for their menu. All in the name of research!

Rough Draft is located off of a small street at the end of a cul-de-sac, surrounded by office buildings. They have outdoor seating and are a dog-friendly spot.

Here’s the menu at Rough Draft. They have a nice variety for their simple menu, including sandwiches, flatbreads, and even cheese boards!

There’s a variety of seating options inside. I wish the bar stools were a little shorter… but I’m probably the only one.

It smells like yeast in here pretty much all the time. Sometimes it can be quite loud in here if they have the beer machines/vat/things on and running.

I love this cozy-cool seating area with the locker rooms behind it.

[grilled cheese panini / $9]

On my first lunch visit I decided to try a sandwich. Specifically a hot cheese sandwich. I thought about getting one with bacon and cheese but it sounded too rich for me that day. I also got a side order of tomato soup to go along with my cheesy sandwich.

The grilled panini has some nice golden marks on the top and bottom which shows it was pressed quite well to achieve a crunchy, golden exterior. They sprinkle a bit of flaky sea salt on top of the sandwich as well! I wish they had spread the salt out a little more evenly though and used a TINY bit less. It was kind of all clumped together in that one spot which made it quite salty for a couple of bites.

The grilled cheese panini comes with three different kinds of cheese smooshed inside of the toasty sandwich.

It’s got gruyere, white cheddar, and triple cream brie inside…. om nom nom nom! Obviously the key word for me in this sandwich was “BRIE” since it’s one of my very favorite cheeses EVER. The brie is so luscious and creamy and makes the sandwich so yummy and good. I ate half of my yummy sandwich and saved the rest for the next day – which I enjoyed at work after reheating it in the toaster oven. 2 for 1 meal!

[tomato soup / $3]

Tomato soup is very often served with grilled cheese as almost a dipping sauce for your cheesy bread. I ordered it as a side not realizing my sandwich came with a buttload of kettle cooked chips.

The tomato soup didn’t quite tickle my fancy though. I felt it was way too thick and it tasted more like a marinara sauce to me than anything else. I also like it when my tomato based things are a little on the sweeter side and this one was a bit more acidic/bitter. To each their own!

I went back for a second visit with my co-workers in tow.

One of my co-workers ordered this housemade pretzel with cheese and mustard. I didn’t try it, but I thought it looked yummy!

On my second visit I decided to build my own cheese board! I got two kinds of cheese: the Brie and the Petite Basque. Both are soft sheep’s cheeses. I also got one meat, the Porchetta. Cheeses are $5 each and meats are $6 each.

It came with a basket of bread, walnuts and pecans, olives and some red thing that no one could identify, cranberries and golden raisins. I was a little sad to see no sauces – like mustards or jams or even honey – but it was still a pretty generous portion of food. The Petite Basque cheese was a soft, mild cheese that tasted great with everything. The porchetta was also delicious – it’s almost like ham and unsmoked bacon all in one slice of meat. I gave away all the olives and raisins to my co-workers who happily ate them for me (great benefit of dining out with others – passing off the food you don’t want to eat!).

I’m pleased with the offerings that Rough Draft has to offer and am happy to have a new spot that’s so close to my office. I’ll have to explore more of their sandwiches and flatbreads in the near future.

Related

Author: Mary

Mary is a San Diego native and has been a food blogger for 11+ years. She is an avid reader, a lover of puppies, and loves trying new food. Foods she loves: sweets, peanut butter, pasta, Triscuit crackers with cream cheese, and extra nuts on top of her sundaes. Food she dislikes: pickles, really spicy food, runny eggs, olives, and too much arugula.

Hi Frank – That’s cool you worked so close by for a bit! I think I once had a quarter of a taster and that was it… I can’t drink on my lunch breaks, too lightweight! I’m happy they have food here now since it’s so closeby – and it’s tasty, too!